The news has been abuzz these last few days and weeks, with famous face after famous face suffering heart attacks and sadly passing away. One of the most shocking has to be Carrie Fisher, famed for her turn in Star Wars as the one and only Princess Leia, who had a heart attack on a transatlantic flight on Christmas Eve and sadly died on December 27^th.

Similarly, actress Zsa Zsa Gabor died after falling into a coma and suffering a heart attack on December 18^th, having been living with coronary artery disease and cerebral vascular disease for years. Actor Alan Thicke, known for his role as the father on TV series Growing Pains, died of a heart attack after playing hockey with his son earlier this month (December). Comedian and actor Ricky Harris, known for his roles in the likes of sitcom Everybody Hates Chris and Poetic Justice, has just this week (December 27^th) died of a heart attack at the age of 52. Singer George Michael was found dead on Christmas Day after suffering heart failure aged just 53. The list goes on and on, it seems.

It’s certainly eye-opening when you list the number of celebrity deaths from heart attack that have happened in just the last few weeks alone – and it may well be the inspiration that you need in order to start protecting your heart in 2017, which would be an excellent New Year’s Resolution to make.

There are lots of small ways you can start looking after your heart health and protecting yourself against possible heart-related complications either now or later on in life. For example, if you don’t exercise at all at the moment why don’t you start off slow by going for a brisk ten-minute walk each day? Gradually add to this over time and you’ll soon start to see the benefits.

Increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables you eat is another way of looking after your heart (as well as the rest of your body), while you could also start eating breakfast each day, having something like fruit or wholegrains like bran flakes or oatmeal.

You could also carry out a review of what you’re drinking as many aren’t aware that their choice of beverage could be having a real impact on their health. You can lose weight quite easily by cutting out sugary drinks, so why not give it a go as this will really help to protect your heart.

If you smoke, consider giving it up in the new year (which is the perfect time to resolve to do this), since smoking is one of the main causes of coronary heart disease. Just one year after you quit, your risk of a heart attack actually falls to around half that of someone who smokes, according to the NHS.

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